An iPhone app apparently helped Houston area authorities track down a phone stolen from a jogger in a pursuit that ended in a fiery crash.

The incident began around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday when two men robbed two female joggers at gunpoint on a sidewalk in the 700 block of Brittmore, near Memorial and West Sam Houston Parkway.

The robbers, wearing bandanas over their faces, got out of a pickup and confronted the women, Houston Police Department spokesman John Cannon said. One woman turned over her Apple iPhone, Cannon said, but the other had no belongings taken. Neither of the women, ages 39 and 41, was injured.

After responding to a 911 call from the women, HPD used their radio channel to call "the location of the stolen phone that was traveling down the road," said Assistant Chief J.J. Laine with the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office.

GPS feature enabled

An HPD helicopter unit was able to find the suspect's vehicle through a GPS application downloaded on the stolen phone, Laine said.

"My understanding is that it was an iPhone app that allows you to track a lost telephone," he said.

Cannon said an officer who responded to the scene of the robbery broadcast a general description of the tan 2010 Chevrolet 1500 pickup as the suspect's vehicle. He declined to reveal details about how the truck was found, however, and would not confirm the use of any iPhone technology.

"I am not going to divulge or get into anything that has to do with the iPhone other than the fact that there was one stolen at the location," Cannon said.

About an hour later, a constable noticed a vehicle matching the description of the robbers' truck and tried to stop it. When the officer pulled up behind the truck near Dairy Ashford and the Katy Freeway, the suspect sped away.

Truck reported stolen, too

Two constables pursued the driver until he exited the freeway onto Katy-Fort Bend Road. The truck crashed and spun around when the driver missed a corner at the Pin Oak overpass, Laine said. The driver, who was alone, then took ran westward as the vehicle went up in flames.

After a short foot chase, the man was apprehended by a constable and taken by helicopter ambulance to Memorial Hermann Hospital for treatment of his injuries, Cannon said. Laine said the truck had been reported stolen.

HPD has not released the driver's name. Regardless of whether the man was involved in the cell phone robbery, he likely will be charged with felony evading arrest, Cannon said.

A call requesting comment from Apple on iPhone GPS capabilities and location tracking apps was not immediately returned.